With Master Petz to the Rostock Polar Bears

You, me and the animal keeper

Author: Annette Rübesamen
Published: September 16, 2024

The Polarium at Rostock Zoo is somewhat reminiscent of Hudson Bay in Canada, which is home to many polar bears., © TMV/Friedrich

Author: Annette Rübesamen
Published: September 16, 2024

Visitors can get to know the polar bears at Rostock Zoo and other zoo inhabitants up close. This is not only fun for people. The animals benefit too.

 

Akiak is the name of the polar bear enjoying the morning sun on the smooth rocks of the polar bear enclosure in Rostock Zoo's Polarium. Aki, for friends. Animal keeper Matthias „Petz“ Petzoldt is one of the friends, and soon eight-year-old Erik, who is still waiting excitedly behind the large gate to the Polarium, which Petz is about to open. Then Erik will stand face to face with Akiak. Eye to eye, in private. Only Erik's mother is present, as well as Petz and his colleague Lukas Stelljes, both zookeepers and animal experts. At Rostock Zoo – üby the way, the best zoo in Europe – this is possible. „Exclusive Animal Encounters“ is the name of the offer where zoo visitors can take a look behind the scenes at the day-to-day work of the zookeepers and get to know various animals up close. For example, the Rostock polar bear Akiak.

Erik and his mother in the Polarium of the Rostock Zoo. Three polar bears live there in a 3,500 square meter tundra landscape., © TMV/Tiemann
Erik and his mother in the Polarium of the Rostock Zoo. Three polar bears live there in a 3,500 square meter tundra landscape.
Erik's hand would fit into the paw of a polar bear about five times. However, a direct handshake is not included in the animal encounter., © TMV/Tiemann
Erik's hand would fit into the paw of a polar bear about five times. However, a direct handshake is not included in the animal encounter.

For Erik, this is the first time he has come so close to the ice bears. To celebrate, he has put on his blue T-shirt with the wild animals printed on it. He has already learned a lot about life in the Arctic and the ice bears this morning. First on the agenda was a visit to the Ice Worlds – visitor center of the Polarium –. Between large canvases with lonely Spitsbergen landscapes, Erik was able to compare his hand with the front paw of an ice bear - five times as big as Erik's! He was able to handle a polar bear's teeth with 42 teeth, touch a small iceberg and get in the perfect mood for his encounter with Aki. Icebergs can jump five meters from a standing start," the boy breathlessly read to his mother. „And still two and a half meters out of the water! That's amazing! Only then did we reach the gate. Behind it is a spacious, 3,500 square meter tundra landscape, designed to look like the Canadian Hudson Bay. This is where Akiak and his two conspecifics, the Rostock polar bears Sizzel and Noria, live.

"Aki looks really friendly," says Erik happily., © TMV/Tiemann

"The polar bear's tongue is all purple!"

Encounters with animals often open up completely new perspectives.

„Aki!“, calls Petz loudly after he has opened the gate. And Aki trots up to the gate. 600 kilos of weight on four paws the size of frying pans. Only an iron fence now separates him from Erik and the keepers. Akiak raises his paw and rubs it against the metal bars. It sounds like music. „Will his paws fit through the bars?“, asks Erik breathlessly. „Not very far“, grins Petz. Erik steps carefully closer. Petz raises his hand. A command for Akiak, who now stands up on his hind legs to his full stature. With its front paws on the fence, the little polar bear looks down at Erik with interest from a height of almost four meters. „He looks quite friendly“, he whispers. „Not threatening at all. And his tongue is purple!" Erik has to laugh. Then it's Petz's turn: he gives Akiak a portion of orange-red fish as a reward, strokes his paws and gives him a gentle peck on the nose. Aki loves fishöl.

„Aki really likes doing this and is always very attentive“, says Matthias Petzoldt. „Our giant Labrador!“ The animal keeper explains to Erik that this training takes place every day and that sitting up, opening the mouth and learning other commands are part of the so-called „medical training“. The aim is to be able to examine the polar bears, the largest land predators in the world, without anesthesia and to be able to carry out minor treatments. First a bucket of herring! But Akiak only gets it after training, when he dives weightlessly through the large water basin and Erik watches this very special water ballet, in which Sizzel and Noria also take part, through the huge glass pane.

The polar bear ladies Sizzel and Noria also swim up curiously., © TMV/Tiemann
The polar bear ladies Sizzel and Noria also swim up curiously.
Finally, Erik gets to feed the Humboldt penguins with keeper Matthias Petzold., © TMV/Tiemann

Penguin feeding in Rostock

At the end of the exclusive animal encounter, Matthias Petzold invites Erik to visit the Humboldt penguins. „Super“, says Erik, „I'm in the penguin class at my school!Erik is given gloves to put on and a bucket of sprats in his hand; then the two of them go into the outdoor area, where the black and white Antarctic birds immediately climb out of their water basin, waddle up hungrily and jostle for the best position in front of the two bipeds. Erik enthusiastically throws them small fish again and again - and enjoys feeding them at least as much as the penguins.

It's not just Rostock Zoo that offers exclusive glimpses behind the scenes; visitors can also encounter animals and nature in a very special way at the other nature experience centers in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

More information on nature experiences and centers in MV: on-mv.de/nature-experience

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